Judo champion Majlinda Kelmendi has decided to retire from active sport and continue as an assistant to coach Driton Kuka, selector of the Kosovo national team. The cause for this decision announced on Monday was the many injuries.
In an interview with Kohavizion, the first athlete to win a gold medal for Kosovo at the Olympics, said that the match against the Hungarian Reka Pupp in Tokyo was the last in her career.
Pupp disappointed the Albanian sports fans after he eliminated Kelmendi in Tokyo in the first round of the tournament. The 30-year-old athlete has excelled in the 52 kg weight category in judo, where in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro she won a gold medal.
Kelmendi said that due to injuries in the last two years he has thought to retire several times, but for the sake of the coach Kuka decided to try the Olympic Games once again.
"Unfortunately it did not go well, it is not that I was not in shape, but it was not my day," Kelmendi told Kohavizion.
"Yes, for me this was the last race, I did not expect it to go like this. It was written, I won it all. I have brought many emotions to Kosovo, many tears, but now it is the turn of others. "I will be close to Toni [the coach] to try to bring out other talents from Kosovo," Kelmendi continued.
The 30-year-old athlete, world champion (2013, 2014), Europe (2014, 2016, 2017), and winner of dozens of other major tournaments has also expressed satisfaction for the success of Nora Gjakova, who won the same gold medal as Distria Krasniqi in judo.
"We are not surprised. Nora cannot be beaten, and sometimes she is a human who calculates a lot. I am very happy that Toni's work and sacrifice are being rewarded in this way," said Kelmendi.